Hundreds stood side-by-side in unity in a vigil for an Orange County woman one week after she was shot and killed in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
Thirty-eight-year-old Nicol Kimura and her friends were just feet away from the stage watching Jason Aldean perform when a gunman opened fire into the crowd of thousands at the Route 91 Harvest Festival.
"I was waiting to be shot myself," Chad Elliot recalled at Kimura's vigil, one week after the massacre. Elliot, along with Kimura and their friends, ducked and tried running away from the raining bullets.
But Kimura didn't move.
Her friends stayed to help her. They didn't want to leave her alone, Elliot said.
"We just told her, 'we got this, baby girl. We're gonna be OK,'" Tracy Gyurina said. "I don't know how many times I told her I loved her."
An off-duty paramedic tried to revive her, but friends said she died at the concert.
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Kimura was a state employee and a graduate of El Dorado High School in Placentia and Cal State Fullerton. Loved ones described her as witty and caring, especially towards children.
Hundreds were at the candlelight vigil in Placentia, surrounded by photos of Kimura and her wide, radiant smile. One of them was her dating profile photo, her friends noted.
"We're gonna find a reason to smile today. 'Cause that's what she would want," Gyurina said. "She would tell us to stop crying and start dancing."
If you would like to donate to a GoFundMe account set up to help Kimura's memorial fund, you may do so here. Note that GoFundMe deducts 7.9 percent of all funds raised in the form of platform and payment processing charges.
